ABSTRACT/SUMMARY Implementation science (ImS) is a branch of research that focuses on the ?use of strategies to adopt and integrate evidence-based health interventions and change practice patterns within specific settings.?1 ImS holds promise for generating new knowledge to close the gap between what we know can optimize health and healthcare and what happens in everyday practice, which may be of particular importance for addressing disparities in health that often result because of failure to deliver evidence-based practice to all populations. Appropriate training of junior faculty from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds in ImS may uniquely position them to pursue innovative research of interest to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and to launch successful careers as independent investigators. The UCSF Research in Implementation Science for Equity (RISE) program is an innovative research and career development program grounded in social cognitive career theory that integrates mentoring and targeted social support with concrete skill building activities. In particular, RISE has provided didactic training, research experiences, and on-going research mentoring in ImS for URM junior faculty focused on cardiovascular or pulmonary research, leveraging the considerable expertise in ImS training at UCSF. These research skill building activities focused on ImS are paired with an innovative career development program that includes critical activities of importance for this career stage (including manuscript and grant writing) delivered by successful, NIH-funded investigators who lead this application and drawing on the broader base of outstanding researchers in cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases at UCSF. Through this unique combination, RISE has provided 35 URM junior faculty with tangible methodological and academic skills to enhance their own research and compete successfully for NIH resources, while also developing a strong network of junior faculty conducting research of relevance to the NHLBI. The proposed RISE-2 builds on the success of RISE. In RISE-2, the ImS curriculum has been expanded to include additional case-based skill building in implementation science, as well as the opportunity to compete for new small research project awards. RISE-2 will also include systematic use of Individual Development Plans (IDPs) to structure mentoring and scholars? progress. RISE-2 expands the focus on nurturing the network of ImS investigators through connecting the proposed 40 new RISE-2 scholars to established ImS investigators as well as to the robust RISE alumni network, with the latter goal facilitated through structured teaching, mentoring, and networking activities connecting RISE-2 scholars and RISE alumni.